European shares steady near 8 month high

LONDON, Sept 7 (Reuters) - European shares were flat on
Wednesday, remaining just off an 8 month high, supported by a
rise in Weir Group and well-received company results which
helped to counteract weak data out of Germany.

The STOXX Europe 600 was flat in percentage terms
at 349.43. The index hit its highest level since January on
Monday, before weak data from the United States saw it fall back
in the previous session.

Weak data also hindered stocks on Wednesday, and Germany's
DAX underperformed slight gains for other euro zone indexes
after German industrial production unexpectedly fell in July. It
recorded its steepest fall in 23 months.

The top STOXX 600 riser was Weir Group, after Morgan Stanley
raised the engineering group to "overweight" from "equal
weight".